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It was 50 years ago today…and also today as Sgt Pepper tops the UK charts in 2017.

That gives me good reason to do what would have happened, had streaming been a thing back in the day, and have a Beatles invasion, led by the genius Macca ballad with roots in traditional melodic folk madrigals (apparently), the heart-rending She’s Leaving Home in at 1 for a 2nd chart-topper of the year. Gorgeous tune, just gorgeous. John’s psychedelic Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is in at 5, and his epic (with Paul) A Day In The Life at 13, Paul’s When I’m Sixty-Four in at 26 – frighteningly I have 4 and half years to go, having been a mere 9 at the time – George’s Indian-flavoured delight Within You Without You at 37, and John’s Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite at 44 and the Paul song Ringo-sung With A Little Help at 60. I make that 9 tracks in the 75, written by 3 group-members, and there are still a couple of other decent album tracks too.

Any other week would see kudos going to The Monkees new album Headquarters invading an already Monkees-busy chart, the only other band to have a Fab year to rival the Fabs in 1967, and by virtue of the TV show, many album tracks and B sides as familiar as the singles, and worthy too. The naughty-titled Mickey Dolenz song Randy Scouse Git (a catch-phrase of the time) had an Alternate Title in the UK, quirky and fun and in at 4, ahead of the Mike Nesmith song (the original TV version not the album version though, the latter has less oomph) at 7 You Just may Be The One. I think it’s telling that they didn’t need professional songwriters after all (by now they had won the battle with Don Kirshner who buggered off to create a REAL manufactured group who wouldn’t answer back – The Archies, who I also loved to bits). In at 41, it’s the closing credits song, Peter Tork’s co-written song, For Pete’s Sake. Just Davy Jones being the Ringo then!

In at 3, Stevie Wonder is still a teen, but no longer “Little” and his first classic Motown song, I Was Made To Love Her, just brilliant, making 4 out of the top 5 new and pushing down still-fresh greats. Traffic have a big climb into the 20, Cilla enters at 35 with a great drama ballad just ahead of her Bacharach Alfie song, as covered by Dionne, which makes a change from the other way around, as per more usual. Frankie Valli drops, but then again he also enters at 49 (featuring the “sound” of Frankie Valli, is the credit) with C’Mon Marianne, a song later covered by Donny Osmond, as per The Trems starting that British national pastime in the 70’s – hit covers of Four Seasons songs that is. That leaves another Smokey Robinson cover at 75, a 3rd entry of 1967 for Brenda & The Tabulations and a song made more famous by The Jackson 5 – Who’s Loving You.

1 ( NEW ) SHE’S LEAVING HOME The Beatles2 ( 1 ) SAN FRANCISCO (BE SURE TO WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR) Scott McKenzie3 ( NEW ) I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER Stevie Wonder4 ( NEW ) RANDY SCOUSE GIT (ALTERNATE TITLE) The Monkees5 ( NEW ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS The Beatles6 ( 3 ) LIGHT MY FIRE The Doors7 ( NEW ) YOU JUST MAY BE THE ONE (ORIGINAL VERSION) The Monkees8 ( 8 ) 24 SYCAMORE Wayne Fontana9 ( 2 ) WATERLOO SUNSET The Kinks10 ( 5 ) DON’T SLEEP IN THE SUBWAY Petula Clark

Stevie Wonder gets his first chart-topper, knocking off the Beatles from the summit in what for me is one of the great periods of music of all-time, quite frankly the entire top 7 should be topping my chart and the next 6 around 2 or 3. As if George Martin’s tasteful orchestration of She’s Leaving Home isn’t amazing enough, there’s an even better one at 6, new in for Nancy Sinatra’s James Bond theme You Only Live Twice, still the greatest Bond theme and her 3rd top 10 of the year. I have opted for the lushly orchestrated John Barry soundtrack version – the single version adapted by Lee Hazelwood is perfectly fine but the movie version is the definitive classic, as borrowed by Robbie for his equally fab Millennium. I saw Rob last week and he didn’t do it! Pah! Awesome though. Lee Hazelwood, meanwhile, pops in with that Johnny Cash/ June Carter rival version (both covers of a 1963 song) awaiting entry.

The Four Tops grab a 4th top 10 of 1967, which means the class Procol Harum song is just being outdone by tracks I love more, up to 10. The Fabs & Cilla both enter the top 20, keeping it scouse, as I was was at the time (at least in accent), with Vikki Carr and The Hollies (both tracks I loved at the time) making good moves into the 30. New at 32, a song I didn’t know then, but grew to love in the US hit version by Kim Carnes in 1980, it’s More Love by the amazing Smokey Robinson, with his miracles – 4 songs on the chart to boot, that’s rivalling Lennon & McCartney.

I saw Judith Durham perform The Olive Tree on the 50th anniversary tour of The Seekers, and was impressed so by the song and their concert I bought the CD hits collection in the foyer – which doesn’t have it on! Pah! Another track I knew from 90’s Florida hols pops in lower down for Jay & The Americans, a Kinks song I don’t know, ditto, and a Tommy Roe ditty that I would have loved had I heard it then (Dizzy was an actual obsession in 1969, the first record I ever bought).

1 ( 3 ) I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER Stevie Wonder2 ( 1 ) SHE’S LEAVING HOME The Beatles3 ( 4 ) RANDY SCOUSE GIT (ALTERNATE TITLE) The Monkees4 ( 2 ) SAN FRANCISCO (BE SURE TO WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR) Scott McKenzie5 ( 5 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS The Beatles6 ( NEW ) YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (JOHN BARRY VERSION) Nancy Sinatra7 ( 7 ) YOU JUST MAY BE THE ONE (ORIGINAL VERSION) The Monkees8 ( 15 ) 7 ROOMS OF GLOOM The Four Tops9 ( 6 ) LIGHT MY FIRE The Doors10 ( 12 ) A WHITER SHADE OF PALE Procol Harum

The Monkees are on top with a 4th chart-topper of the year, holding off Nancy Sinatra’s 3rd top 5. Highest new entry is the track that featured on the first album bought as a present for me (I requested Honey Come Back and got This Is Glen Campbell, an Australian compilation of the best tracks off his first 2 or albums) – Gentle On My Mind. Alison Krauss has just done a fab cover of it, which reinforces what a work of poetry it is, lyrically and melodically, deserving of all the awards.

In at 23, a track a fellow 60’s enthusiast recommended to me recently, and it’s pure 1967 and pure delight, Sagittarius is the act, well worth checking out. Big climb for Gene Chandler, 12 years before he debuted in my charts with Get Down. That was a very good disco track, this a wonderful soul ballad. Pink Floyd are back again, ditto Jefferson Airplane, snap for Sonny & Cher, and a 3rd Peaches & Herb of 1967. That leaves Boots Randolph’s version of the standard Temptation, very nice – he may be better known for his sax contributions to Elvis records – and Yakkety Sax, AKA the Benny Hill theme!

Nancy Sinatra gets her first solo chart-topper (hypothetically, as I haven’t done my 1966 charts yet) since Boots, and her 3rd in all, as the Fabs get 3 in the top 10 and Glen Campbell gets his first. Highest new entry is the ever-so MOR, yet lovely, Just Loving You. another kiddie fave of mine, both the song and Anita Harris, regular of kids TV and variety shows – not to mention Carry On Up The Khyber. A very familiar tune I didn’t know I knew is in at 26 for the Bar-Kays, Soulfinger popping up in The Blues Brothers but also used as a soundbed to many a radio link back in the day.

Another Bee Gees (obscure) goodie drops by, every one a winner in the 60’s for the Gibbs, as Lulu is literally beside herself with Let’s Pretend. Vanilla Fudge go heavy Supremes, while Ike & Tina & Gladys Knight scrape in. Gladys is back in Bournemouth tomorrow night, I may try and go again she was fab a year or 2 back.

1 ( 2 ) YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (JOHN BARRY MOVIE VERSION) Nancy Sinatra2 ( 1 ) RANDY SCOUSE GIT (ALTERNATE TITLE) The Monkees3 ( 5 ) LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS The Beatles4 ( 3 ) SHE’S LEAVING HOME The Beatles5 ( 4 ) I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER Stevie Wonder6 ( 6 ) YOU JUST MAY BE THE ONE (ORIGINAL VERSION) The Monkees7 ( 12 ) GENTLE ON MY MIND Glen Campbell8 ( 7 ) SAN FRANCISCO (BE SURE TO WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR) Scott McKenzie9 ( 10 ) PAPER SUN Traffic10 ( 11 ) A DAY IN THE LIFE The Beatles

5 weeks on top for The Mamas & The Papas, just holding of a new entry from The Kinks – that classic Waterloo Sunset. PP Arnold keeps the Cat Stevens top 10 hitlist going, The Trems keep the Gaudio/Crewe hitlist going – and look, there’s another of theirs in at 18 as the classic singalongaFrankie Valli – later done bigger in the UK by Andy Williams, Boystown Gang and the greatest version Pet Shop Boys – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You pops in.

Elsewhere, Tommy James B side is doing much better than the A side, James Bond takes Herb Alpert into the top 20 as his cover of the Ramsey Lewis gem potters around lower. The Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack Motown original of Ain’t No Mountain is in at 45, almost as good as the OTT cover by Diana Ross on it’s way in 3 years, Spanky & Our Gang’s well-known US hit drops by, a good Motown obscurity from Barbara McNair is new in, a 60’s US oldies radio fave from The Grass Roots is also new, and ditto The Music Explosion’s A Little Bit Of Soul, later picked up in 1972 by Jonathan King for UK Records resissued UK airplay – but no sales.

Hendrix does better than Purple Haze’s feeble peak of 75, in at 71 for his most radio-friendly track, while New Vaudeville Band have a soundalike follow-up (again), and Jackie Wilson does what he does well.

The Kinks grab a new Number One – now had I been doing some charts on here back in 64 then You Really Got Me would have topped, and possibly Sunny Afternoon. The Trems Four Seasons cover is up to 3, as the actual Four Seasons are at 9 (whatever the label says) and The Beach Boys oldie cover shoots up to 10. Highest new entry The Walker Brothers also cover and early 60’s classic, at 33, just ahead of big climbs for Spanky & Our gang and Sonny & Cher. The original songs to later chart-toppers for me (Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Say You Don’t Mind) and later hits (24 Sycamore and Here We Go Again) climb or enter, while The Staple Singers have a chart debut, and yet another old Monkees fave pops in too. Just waiting for Sgt Pepper eh? This chart could get VERY crowded….!

1 ( 2 ) WATERLOO SUNSET The Kinks2 ( 1 ) DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE The Mamas & The Papas3 ( 8 ) SILENCE IS GOLDEN The Tremeloes4 ( 3 ) A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU The Monkees5 ( 5 ) FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST PP Arnold6 ( 4 ) GROOVIN’ The Young Rascals7 ( 9 ) SHE’D RATHER BE WITH ME The Turtles8 ( 6 ) TAKE ME IN YOUR ARMS AND LOVE ME Gladys Knight & The Pips9 ( 18 ) CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU Frankie Valli10 ( 31 ) THEN I KISSED HER The Beach Boys

71 ( NEW ) HERE WE GO AGAIN Ray Charles
72 ( 49 ) WADE IN THE WATER Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
73 ( NEW ) 7 ROOMS OF GLOOM The Four Tops
74 ( NEW ) WHY (AM I TREATED SO BAD) The Staple Singers
75 ( NEW ) AM I GROOVING YOU Freddie Scott

19th May 1967

New in on top and it’s the start of the Summer Of Love with the hippie anthem from The Mamas & The Papas..err I mean John Phillips very generous gift to Scott McKenzie (imagine if he’d kept it, ah if only). I loved this song at the time, in the sunny days living on the Isle Of Anglesey (rural RAF Valley), as did my mum. I still love it. One I didn’t know at the time is up to 4 (Frankie Valli’s classic original), as Pet Clark is straight in at 10 with another childhood fave from the days when Tony Hatch knocked out the melodic pop gems on a weekly basis – Don’t Sleep In The Subway.

Another biggie in at 12, the original Light My Fire, The Doors classic, another I knew in later years (Jose Feliciano was MY original), and up 50 places another song I knew but a version I didn’t – Wayne Fontana’s earlier version of Gene Pitney’s 24 Sycamore. The Walker Brothers return to the top 20 with another cover – this time Walking In The Rain – and Tommy James hits my top 20 with a track that should have been a big A side single. Much better than the otherwise-decent Mirage.

A band I’d never heard of 6 months ago, The Five Stairsteps, replace themselves in my top 40 with a great cover of Smokey Robinson’s Ooh Baby Baby, and the timeless trippie-classical groove from Procol Harum is in at 33, 5 years ahead of it making my real charts in 1972. A great Grass Roots track goes top 40, one I got to know on Florida 60’s oldies radio in the 90’s – they tended to pick a theme (in this case records from 1963 to 1973) and then play oldies from that era on rotation as if they were new tracks. As I used to holiday in Orlando most years, that was a voyage of 60’s oldies discovery for me, taping onto cassette from the radio.

Up Up And Away, 2 versions, The Johnny Mann version was the UK hit version I knew at the time and liked, but The 5th Dimension I got to know in 1969 to 1971 and became a huge fan of (they were on Ed Sullivan shows broadcast on Singapore TV, and on Singapore radio) – so that gets the higher chart placing. Others: a Dusty goodie, Showstoppers later UK hit, The Association’s Windy (not a UK hit but a well-known song), Engelbert’s monster follow-up, Manfred’s Tommy Roe cover, and a bunch of super-heroes at 75. Ah if only….

1 ( NEW ) SAN FRANCISCO (BE SURE TO WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR) Scott McKenzie2 ( 1 ) WATERLOO SUNSET The Kinks3 ( 3 ) SILENCE IS GOLDEN The Tremeloes4 ( 9 ) CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU Frankie Valli5 ( 7 ) SHE’D RATHER BE WITH ME The Turtles6 ( 2 ) DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE The Mamas & The Papas7 ( 10 ) THEN I KISSED HER The Beach Boys8 ( 5 ) FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST PP Arnold9 ( 4 ) A LITTLE BIT ME A LITTLE BIT YOU The Monkees10 ( NEW ) DON’T SLEEP IN THE SUBWAY Petula Clark

2 weeks on top for Scott McKenzie’s hippie anthem, holding off a challenge from The Doors at 3. That’s the position the long version peaked at on re-issue in the 90’s in my charts. Wayne Fontana and The Walker Brothers go top 10, which is about as well as The Partridge Family did with it in 1973 – hey I liked David Cassidy and the TV show!

A big leap for Procol Harum into the 20, which A Whiter Shade Of Pale did in 1972 for me, and a lesser-known Northern Soul Motown gem from The Four Tops turns the top 20 gloomy as well as pale. The Five Stairsteps take Smokey Robinson into the 20, while Johnny Rivers enters with another Smokey song.

Highest new entry at 29 is that American hit and UK flop, incredibly, for Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl. I swear it was on constant rotation on Florida radio each year I holidayed in the 90’s. Far and away his best solo record, too. 2 versions of The Boat That I Row side by side, 2 versions of Up Up And Away, one of them not floating as high as the better version, and a new entry for Traffic, newly-hot with Paper Sun at 35.

Jeff Beck & Dave Dee & co go top 40, Vikki Carr’s MOR classic is in at 57, and childhood fave Carrie Ann pops in a bit lower. One of my parents younger RAF friend couples had this one (Jimmy & Vera had some singles I liked so I enjoyed popping round for biscuits and playing their records, Jimmy was in his early 20’s, mum was very nearly ancient at 28, dad was 30).

71 ( NEW ) I’VE GOT TO GO BACK HOME Bob Andy
72 ( 62 ) LOVE IS HERE AND NOW YOU’RE GONE The Supremes
73 ( 75 ) YOU GAVE ME SOMETHING (AND EVERYTHING’S ALRIGHT) The Fantastic Four
74 ( NEW ) THE TRACKS OF MY TEARS Johnny Rivers
75 ( NEW ) I TAKE IT BACK Sandy Posey

2 weeks on top for Wham! just holding off another top British duo, and Pet Shop Boys hit 2 with the classic West End Girls. Yoko Ono gets her first top solo hit in 5 years, since Walking On Thin Ice topped my chart, the final record she & John were working on the night of his murder, and John goes up one to 8. Sun City protest song hits 6, Madonna ends the year with a 6th top 10, and Whitney Houston gets a debut top 10.

Grant n Graham just miss out on a 2nd top 10 together, 5 years since David first had his Lynx, and Dionne Warwick is back in the top 20 3 years on from the last time, Dee C. Lee finally scrapes into the 20 with a great ballad that took me time to warm to, and Slade make their run of top 20’s 14 years. Julian Lennon follows his dad into the 40, The Cult make it a hat-trick, and highest new entry is a christmas classic, as done by Broooooce, at 32, Santa Clause Is Coming To Town. Brucie’s sax player gets his own debut at 60, Clarence Clemons bringing along Jackson Browne who first made my charts 13 years earlier with Doctor My Eyes.

The Cars return for a 3rd hit of the year, at 40, while at 66 it’s another pop duet, as Bonnie Tyler extends her run of chart entries to 9 years, in hand with the fab Todd Rundgren who first made my charts with the fab I Saw The Light in 1972. The song and production is a Jim Steinman epic, as they all are in his style, but only hit big in Portugal, though Meatloaf finally got around to doing his version with Jim in 2016.

Bronski Beat have a new lead singer, Junior keeps popping in, Evelyn King hasn’t dropped the Champagne, 7 years on from her first Shame, and Mr. Mister debut with a great song Broken Wings.

1 MOON RIVER Greyhound
2 EVERYTHING I OWN Ken Boothe
3 IF NOT YOU Dr. Hook

10th December 1985

On top for the first time, and the first of dozens, it’s Chris & Neil – dum dum dum dum-de-dum-dum. Holding off a reissued 1984 Band Aid chart-topper, still fresh and undimmed by 30-odd years of never-ending Christmas overkill. Sting shoots up Russians to 4, a sort of dark christmassy mood and his biggest solo hit to date. Julian Lennon gets a second top 10 and knocks out his dad.

Cameo enter at 19 with strange, but fab, song, ahead of the codpiece – it would eventually chart in the UK. A Mick Jagger album track joins the Yoko album track – veterans were now starting to opt out of singles off new albums, something which became huge business in the States in the 90’s as physical singles died out to push album sales to new heights. Money money money! Mick’s missus, of course, used to go out with Bryan Ferry – and he is also in looking Windswept. Fortunately Rupert Murdoch doesn’t feature in the chart, though I did tweet him this week when he commented unbelievingly on global warming while flying over ice-swept northern hemispheres – IN MID-WINTER. What a dick. At least I can only assume that’s why Jerry married the ageing multibillionaire.

No memory whatsoever of the Spacelings – one to youtube! However another overplayed christmas classic debuts at 60 – it’s Shaky, with one of his occasional chart entries (in my charts, that is, 5 years non-stop in the UK charts). You all know it. Sheena Easton also has 5 years of occasional chart entries continued but her best Prince-days were still ahead. Another Christmas UK number one enters at 71 – well the song at any rate, for the Isley Brothers (sort of) 16 years into a chart career, and one year pre-Housemartins. That leaves comebacks for Mike Oldfield (topped my chart two times in 1974 with two albums – allowed because they were one track, essentially), and Joni Mitchell (1974 was also her best chart year for me) 15 years on from Big Yellow Taxi.

It’s only one week on top for West End Girls, as a recent Christmas Classic enters back on top, Wham! very nearly replacing themselves at 1 but for Pet Shop Boys. Cameo go top 10, She’s Strange that one, and Shaky’s xmas now-perennial leaps into the 40 for the first time. Lots of climbers due to a lack of new entries, which back in the day was the norm. Or now, in fact, bar the oldies xmas invasions that I used to do in my own charts and now happens in the actual official charts everywhere.

Amii Stewart has a new duetting partner for her old Johnny Bristol hit mash-up of 2 Smokey Robinson songs, My Guy My Girl and Sophie George is too Girlie Girlie, too. A forgotten xmas song from Bryan Adams, I doubt I’ve heard Christmas Time in 32 years….! On the other hand, Walking In The Air and Aled Jones were regular xmas airplay and TVplay oldies – and here they are – but not quite as you might guess. I never liked Aled’s version of Walking In The Air, so it’s the original TV “Snowman” soundtrack that enters, while Aled gives Mike Oldfield a festive hand. Mike, of course, has had several xmas hits, none of them actually mentioning xmas at all, preferring a more traditional solstice theme.

1 I’M GONNA BE STRONG Gene Pitney
2 LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud
3 WE CAN WORK IT OUT The Beatle

24th December 1985

It’s a new entry at 1 for a Xmas classic that charted in 1974 but never made my top 10. That was something of a shock for me as Mud had made my top 3 (and had 4 number ones) with all their previous singles, yet this Elvis pastiche ballad sorta disappointed me as a 16-year-old. Roll on 11 years and nostalgia and regular annual radio plays, and hey presto I love it. In fact so many Xmas classics come back my chart looks like the Xmas 2017 singles charts! Not saying I was ahead of the game….OK I am. That also explains why I don’t usually rechart them, cos frankly after getting on for 30 to 45 years one gets over-familiar with most of them. Glad to see new generations love them though!

Bizarrely the Shaky Xmas classic is only 20, and it was brand new (well a year-old and held-back to avoid Band Aid and Wham!, rather wisely). Macca’s back with his frogs, Bing’s 40’s standard is back having first charted in 1977, Slade are back again, by this time making it an annual event. Wizzard aren’t but they did it the previous year. Nowadays they beat Slade every xmas in the UK charts. This year both were beaten by fellow ’73 minor hit Step Into Xmas, as Elton gets a higher spot on the Spotify playlists.

Feargal Sharkey’s follow-up single is actually the answer-song to A Good Heart, as the break-up song from the female half of a songwriting romantic duo is followed by the male reply. Benmont Tench (from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) wrote it, Eurythmics Dave Stewart produced it, and Maria McKee is the subject matter, writer of A Good Heart which had a pop at Tench.

Oldies Playlist
1 I’M GONNA BE STRONG Gene Pitney
2 WE CAN WORK IT OUT The Beatles
3 DAY TRIPPER The Beatles

31st December 1985

A second week on top for Mud, and a fourth week at 2 for Pet Shop Boys in total – if not for oldies it would have had 5 weeks on top. Had my chart rules been different though, it’s likely Gene Pitney’s I’m Gonna Be Strong would have topped for some of that as I was seriously mad on it. Wizzard would also have recharted and the Win single on my playlist I thought should be treated as an oldie, but it would chart in 1986.

A-ha are the highest new entry at 22 with a classic epic track that’s even better than Take On Me, followed closely by a forgotten Eurythmics gem, It’s Alright. Jon Anderson pops in, both missing Vangelis and bandmates Yes to get his debut solo entry some 8 years since Wondrous Stories made my top 10 for Yes.

It’s a first week on top for Cities In Dust, Siouxsie’s 2nd chart-topper, and a relatively unknown corker. UB40 climb to 4 – their 2nd highest charting single to date, after debut Food For Thought peaked at 2. Talking Heads get a 2nd top 10, Feargal Sharkey leaps to 9, and his first solo top 10 and goes where 3 Undertones singles have been. Kate Bush completes a fabulous top 10 – as usual in her case, it’s more remarkable if she doesn’t go top 10.

Lloyd Cole has a mighty quantum leap into the 40, as he searches for a Lost Weekend and his best track that isn’t called Perfect Skin. Marc Almond keeps the long run of top 40’s going and ZZ Top make it 4 in a row. After the previous week invasion of new entries, it’s a bit calmer this time, but still room for some classics: The Waterboys enter at 66 with future 1991 Number 1 in my chart (on reissue) The Whole Of The Moon, a track I heard in a record store in 1989 in a College town in Vermont, and it still sounded fab. Music is memories….

Prefab Sprout have a good return single as the highest new entry, Paul Hardcastle disappoints following up a unique huge single, Tina Turner & Bryan Adams cap of a good year for them both with a rocky duet, Patsy Kensit debuts with Eighth Wonder, better times lie ahead chartwise (cough, Pet Shop Boys, cough), Dee C. Lee ex-of Wham! backing singers, and Paul Weller’s better-half of the time brings a lush fab ballad into the lower reaches and on it’s way up – though one I grew to love more in later years. There’s also Shaky.

Feargal Sharkey does what the Undertones never managed – he tops my chart, with the fab A Good Heart. Meanwhile Huey Lewis is back with a bang with his 1982 non-hit in the UK, the terrific Heart & Soul, outdoing his most-famous song Power Of Love in my charts. Lloyd Cole rockets up to 11, and The Waterboys go into orbit seeing the Whole Of The Moon up 48 places to 18. Classic! The Communards hit the 20 for the first time, and in at 27 it’s a significant chart debut for them and for me: West End Girls is still their most famous song, and kick-started a glorious career for the Pet Shop Boys which continues to this day. Far and away easily my top fave act of the last 32 years, on record and in concert, and one of my Big Three along with The Beatles and Abba.

Wham! crack back with the great I’m Your Man, while a bunch of pop stars do an anti-Apartheid track (Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Bob Geldof, Jackson Browne, Bono, some Temptations, Afrika Bambaata, Hall & Oates, Bobby Womack and many many more) and it’s pretty good. In at 36 and 37 respectively as at 38 Dire Straits make it 6 years of top 40 hits with the atmospheric Brothers In Arms title track, as the new-format CD took off big-time spearheaded by this album.

Fine Young Cannibals are a bit blue, Queen notably didn’t play on Sun City as they had recently actually played Sun City and sparked the protest, having just the one vision, and Starship drop the Jefferson and the Airplane and the quality, coming back 5 years on from Jane to build a city. An annoying one by the time it dropped out of the charts. A bunch of follow-up’s enter lower, the most notable being David & Jaki’s 70’s-soul-styled Mated, a bit Philly and a bit fab.

2 weeks on top for Feargal Sharkey, as Stairway To Heaven climbs to 2, and Wham! shoot up 30 to 6 with I’m Your Man. The Waterboys & Eurythmics both go top 10, giving Aretha Franklin a 2nd top 10 of the year after a 14 year gap since her previous – Spanish Harlem. My boys climb into the 20 for the first time, and never long absnet from it ever since, Neil & Chris and West End Girls. Sun City climbs fast, as do ones they protest, Queen , hot off Live Aid’s show-stopping set.

Highest new entry is a debut, a promising (largely unfulfilled, if hugely successful) classy start from Whitney Houston, cousin of Dionne Warwick, who brings her pop friends along (such as Elton, Stevie & Gladys) a charity record for the rapidly-spreading new deadly disease AIDS. Written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, it was the first time Burt & Dionne had hit together since the 60’s, and That’s What Friends Are For enters lower at 64.

Tina Turner is beside herself with Mad Max joy, literally, along with Bryan Adams. David Grant & Jaki Graham are mated (not really, cos I saw David Grant on TV this morning on a serious news item with his actual wife on behalf of children with learning difficulties) at 29, while Fine Young Cannibals, Midge Ure and Dee C. Lee (no longer backing Wham! she’s backing her own man, Paul Weller, who’s one place above her at 37).

Princess joins King and Queen, though not Prince sadly, with her 2nd hit, Glenn Frey flies solo from The Eagles with his best single, You belong To The City, The Cult make it a quick trio of hits, though not the Beatles’ Revolution, B side to my first chart Number One Hey Jude – despite Paul McCartney also entering with a comedy movie theme: Spies Like Us was as good as the film. Spirited effort but not that great.

Lionel Richie somehow breaks into the bottom end with another dull ballad, Say Who? Say Me! New Order find themselves a bit subcultured, and Go West return with another goodie.

It’s Wham! grabbing a first week on top for the second time (three for George Michael) on a change of chart-day-of-the-week compilation for me, and with the then-traditional 3rd-week-in-November deluge of record releases – 20 new entries! Huey Lewis hits his chart-peak of 4, Pet Shop Boys break into the 10 for the first time, and John & Yoko get the highest new entries. Not actually their Christmas classic, though, it’s a track off Yoko’s fab new album with a fab new video, Hell In Paradise, outdoing her late husband’s single release of his original 14-year-old album track as taken to 1 by Roxy Music 4 years earlier. In fact it’s a real family affair, as John’s son Julian enters with Because – not the Beatles classic album track, though, it’s another offcut from Dave Clark’s Time musical. Talking of The Beatles, The Thompson Twins enter at 45 with a cover of Revolution, B side to Hey Jude. Talking of the Beatles, Paul McC, John’s co-writer in the Fabs (as if anyone didn’t know) enters the 40 with his movie theme.

Talking of movie themes, Phil Collins duets with Marilyn Mansun. I mean McCoo. No, I mean Martin. Talking of Revolution, The Cult are one place higher than the different song of the same name. It’s 1985, so Madonna must be due another monthly hit – and here it is, dressing us up at 14 with her best effort since Into The Groove. Slade are back! 14 years of singles chart entries, and in at 25. A mere 6 years since Roxanne, Sting has another solo single, but for once this one is worthy of having a The Police moniker. The sentiments of Russians were quite worthy of the time, and the moody sweeping classical Russian backdrop was also worthy of entering at 29.

Another Propaganda goodie into the 40, and a host of lesser entries, from Doug E. Fresh, Nik Kershaw, Five Star, Amazulu and China Crisis. Dream Academy cover The Smiths, Aretha Franklin keeps the revival zoomin’ hot, Elton John is also on the 14-year-bandwagon, dragging along an uncredited modest George Michael I think, though these days it would guarantee a “featuring” credit on Wrap Her Up, hot on the heels of his uncredited vocal backing to the late David Cassidy. Simon May returns 9 years on from his excruciating Top Of The Pops live vocal experience, wisely sticking with his Orchestral TV Theme, and The New Seekers are back – guess what, 14-years-on. Spirit of ’71! Sadly, there was no Lyn Paul, Eve Graham or Peter Doyle in the line-up, leaving only Paul Layton & Marty Kristian from the original hit-making band.

3 weeks on top for Red Box, as The Style Council rocket up to 2 with the great melody of the otherwise a bit political The Lodgers, their 4th top 3, and Paul Weller’s 4th. Amii Stewart makes the top 10 as airplay starts favouring Light My Fire a bit more (the better track), and Dead Or Alive make it 4 top 10’s in a row, and Billy Idol 3 out of 4.

A-ha shoot up into the top 20 as the classic video starts to get TV plays, Colonel Abrams is trapped just outside the 20, and Jolene takes Strawberry Switchblade and Dolly Parton’s song back into the 40. Marc Bolan is the highest new entry at 36 with a rare early song given a release as his loyal fans kept the T.Rex legend living on. It’s a Brilliant song at 45, a cover of the James Brown 60’s classic done female vocal stylee by the cool future KLF member Jimmy Cauty and ex-Killing Joke and future record producer Youth, drafting in the terrific vocalist JUne Montana. Their A&R Manager was Bill Drummond (the other half of KLF), and they were produced by err Stock Aitken Waterman who also had a hand in the songwriting. It can be NO coincidence that the KLF had a fab song called Kylie Said To Jason, just before the Timelords alter-ego took them to the top of the charts.

14 years of chart entries and Elton is in with his pretty ballad Nikita – yes it is a boys name, wonder if he was trying to tell us something at the time…. Meanwhile Depeche are back, ditto The Cars, Level 42 and Matt Bianco.

It’s a first week on top for Midge Ure, rather appropriately cos I saw him perform this wonderful song last night as I write (14th Oct 2017) heading a triple bill of fab Clare Crogan’s Altered Images, still in fine voice, and ditto The Christians smooth rocksoul. Great to hear them all with more hits than you think you know!

Jennifer Rush powers into the 10, The Smiths make a thorny dash into the 20, and Level 42 have something about going top 40. Highest new entry is the brilliant Trevor Horn-produced Grace Jones Slave To The Rhythm, at 44, The Cult follow-up with Rain, Sade keeps the jazzsoul coming, Prince has another psychedelic-soul single off Around The World In A Day, and a classic Simple Minds movie song pops in. One to have a Breakfast Club to.

Woodpeckers From Space? No, I don’t remember it either, but I had fond movies of being in the Micky Mouse club in Singapore (Woody Woodpecker shorts on film shown to RAF kids in Siglap, presumably unable to finance Disney shorts). Certainly no other excuse for charting it. One place higher than Erasure’s debut of a flop single first time round, the former Depeche Mode Vince is also lower than his ex-bandmates. Bobby Womack follows his brother and sister-in-law into my charts, Kaja have dropped the googooo – they needent have bothered – The Alarm are strong at 75, and The Jesus And Mary Chain are just like honey at 74. Sweet.

71 ( NEW ) I WISH HE DIDN’T TRUST ME SO MUCH Bobby Womack
72 ( 59 ) WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER HERO (THUNDERDOME) Tina Turner
73 ( NEW ) SHOULDN’T DO THAT Kaja
74 ( NEW ) JUST LIKE HONEY The Jesus And Mary Chain
75 ( NEW ) STRENGTH The Alarm

15th October 1985

2 weeks on top for Midge as a-ha challenge at 2. Brilliant vault up to 12 with their utterly different James Brown cover (sung from the point of view of a woman), Jennifer Holliday grabs a second top 20 hit, Grace Jones gets her second top 20 too – 5 years after the first – and ditto The Cult 5 weeks after the first (or so). Simple Minds are the highest of a pile of new tracks as the autumn pre-xmas deluge gets biting, with the great Alive And Kicking. In 1985 Madonna could fart into a microphone and get a hit, and sure enough The Gambler enters at 30, The Three Degrees return after a 5-year gap, Talking Heads after a 4-year gap (with the fab Road To Nowhere), The Clash after a 2-year rest, and The Thompson Twins keep the run of singles coming.

Kate Bush chucks out another winner, the one with the Donald Sutherland video, the great Cloudbusting, following a chart-topper as do The Cars and Godley & Creme. A Miami Vice theme track charts for Jan Hammer, better than the TV show at any rate (though it did have Sheena Easton in it), and some of Duran Duran decide it’s time for an Election Day. Duran without the rhythm oomph, effectively. Modern Talking and Pat Benatar follow-up great singles with much less great tracks….

71 ( 60 ) POWER OF LOVE Huey Lewis & The News
72 ( NEW ) ELECTION DAY Arcadia
73 ( 70 ) SO IN LOVE OMD
74 ( NEW ) YOU CAN WIN IF YOU WANT Modern Talking
75 ( NEW ) INVINCIBLE Pat Benatar

22nd October 1985

It’s a first week on top for a-ha’s timeless Take On Me, as one fab creative video knocks off another one – from Midge’s pin-cushion effect to a-ha’s animation-strip style. Grace JOnes gets her biggest-ever hit as Slave To The Rhythm jumps to 5, and The Clash rocket almost 30 places to 6 for their first top 10 since Bankrobber in 1980. Elton John’s Nikita saunters into the 10 to give Reg 15 consecutive years of top 10 hits, while the highest new entry is Mrs Cretu, German singer Sandra who’s hubbie was to become mega as Enigma (and he often brought in the missus to help): in at 16 Maria Magdalena was a huge European smash (and UK flop) owing more than a bit to Laura Branigan’s Self Control. I recently entered it into the Buzzjack Song Contest as an obscure oldie amongst a host of new tracks and it did spectacularly well with a new younger generation of music fans. It sounds very relevant in 2017, obviously….!

Talking Heads rocket into the 20, ditto Kate Bush (later to be sampled by Utah Saints to great effect), as Bucks Fizz singer Bobby G leads an inrush of ex-group singers to the chart: Roger Daltrey gets 12 years of solo hits, or 16 years including The Who; Sting enters Police-less with a lesser track; Feargal Sharkey gets another solo hit, his best ever record (written by Maria McKee), and I include the classic Teenage Kicks Undertones debut from 1978 in that; Jimmy Somerville pops in with The Communards, a Bronski Beat nevermore, as You Are My World turns out to be the best thing he’s done since Smalltown Boy. It got to be a hit eventually in 1987.&nbsp;

UB40 enter right into the 40 with one of their great singles 5 years into their non-stop run of hits, and Siouxsie enters with her greatest single 7 years into her career, Cities In Dust still sounds fabulous. Twiggy’s back 9 years on, and Tina Turner keeps the Mad Max coming.

A-ha on top in a busy week, for a second week. I don’t have time to run down on returning legends Aretha & Johnny Nash Class of 68, the manic leaps and drops of numerous tracks as Oct 1985 turns out to be magnificently fab.

Stairway To Heaven is the highest new entry, Siouxsie rockets to 2, and OMD are in at 30 (I’m off to see them next week in Southampton).

having peaked at 5 and dropped, it’s a sudden climb to top my charts for Bucks Fizz’ chart-flop (but fab) You And Your Heart So Blue, their 4th time on top. I think I bought the record in the cut-price basket and got to play it loud, as it should be. Mick & Dave go top 10 along with Bry just behind, all 3 of ’em dad dancing. The Thompson Twins shoot up into the 20 with Don’t Mess With Doctor Dream, not one of their bigger UK chart hits, but I liked it. Amii Stewart takes her 2 remixed 1979 top hits back into the 20, Red Box’ fabness drives into the 30, and highest new entry is the obscure follow-up to the classic Life In A Northern Town from Dream Academy, at 29.

Bananarama ask not to be disturbed, just about the last of their Jolly Swainey jangletoons, as Mai Tai also drink to making the top 40, and a rock classic, err, limps up to 36 for Bryan Adams, possibly cos I recalled the Summer of ’69 very well and it sounded much better than that! Blancmange are back, What’s Your Problem? they ask – to which the answer is, no more big hits, sadly. Enjoyed them recently in concert though (2016). There’s another well-recalled song from Bonnie Tyler popping in at 60, that was decent enough, but no Total Eclipse Of The Heart. Laura Branigan is also back, with a track I’ve forgotten, Dio rocks in, and best of all a ballad from Dusty Springfield brings her back into my chart, more in line with her 60’s stuff than the fab gentle disco of Baby Blue in 1979.

It’s Dancing In The Live Aid Street as Bowie & Jagger outdo the Martha & The Vandellas original in my charts – though not in terms of quality! Red Box rocket to 2, catchy left-wing-pop, and The Twins get a 3rd or 4th top 10 and Dan Hartman a second, some 7 years after the first (Instant Replay). There’s loads of new entries in a busy chart, and Blancmange jump into the 40 at 22, Bonnie Tyler to 29 for 9 years of hits, and 2 early 80’s reissued Tears For Fears singles make the 40 belatedly – though Pale Shelter did it in 1982 in re-recorded form, a track used as the basis to the fab The Weeknd’s Secrets, which topped my chart months back as I write (2017).

Highest actual new track – If I Was. Midge Ure’s solo mini-masterpiece followed the Ultravox break-up, and gave him a first solo hit since his cover of No Regrets went top 10 in 1982, and 9 years since he was very young and Slik, Forever And Ever. Carly Simon, as ever in those days, back with the occasional minor hit at 38, her best since Will Powers’ Kissing With Confidence hit 2 in my charts in 1983 (she did all the singing). Billy Idol’s early 80’s American hit finally also charts in the UK, and recharts here, as follow up to White Wedding: Rebel Yell!

Others, Marillion dilly-dillying, Bucks Fizz are Magical, though actually less magical than the track dropping from the top of my charts, Strawberry Switchblade cover a 1976 top 10 for Dolly Parton, that’ll be Jolene then, Hipsway do a spot of gospel, the Frankie gals miss a perfect opportunity to retitle a song Dancing On The Jagged Sledge, Heaven 17 and Propaganda lease out their lead vocalists for a duet I’ve forgotten – though like the sound of it so I’m bound to youtube it and buy it as I didn’t get it at the time. Scritti Politti are back with a laid-back Green sounding American hit, Lloyd Cole causes a mild commotion a year on from Perfect Skin, and China Crisis get a paper cut. Phew!

71 ( NEW ) BRAND NEW FRIEND Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
72 ( NEW ) THE SHOW (THEME FROM CONNIE) Rebecca Storm
73 ( 71 ) NOW THAT WE’VE FOUND LOVE Third World
74 ( NEW ) YOU DID CUT ME China Crisis
75 ( 48 ) CRAZY IN THE NIGHT Kim Carnes

18th September 1985

It’s a new number one, thankfully knocking off Bowie & Jagger from the top after one week only – Red Box and the fab Lean On Me. Tears For Fears grab another top 5, their 5th, with oldie Suffer The Children rocketing up. Blancmange also grab another top 10, their 3rd, and Stevie Wonder hits 9, 17 years after his first (For Once In My Life, a cover of a Tony Bennett minor hit from 1967). Stevie’s also back assisting uncredited on Cliff’s new song from Dave Clark’s musical album of the future musical Time, and Cliff is also 17 years in to his career.

Midge Ure shoots up to 12, If I Was, and it’s a magical rise to 26 for Bucks Fizz, back in the UK album chart this very week after an absence of 30-odd years – albeit known as The Fizz, and only three-quarters of the original line-up. Highest new entry is Madonna, she’s a UK singles chart Angel in 1985, totally her year, no question. Changing the face of megapop to female vocalists. In at 36, a future shoddy hit cover for Eric Clapton, but here the brilliant original from Greg Phillinganes, Behind The Mask. Featured on Jonathan King’s Entertainment USA, and still not a hit.

Rene and Renata have split up, and he’s with Angela now – just kidding, it’s a smooth soul act newly in, as The Cure are back swiftly with the fab Wardrobe-on-a-cliff Close To Me. At 60, Diana Ross follows up a great single with one that should have been brilliant, written by 2 Gibb brothers and Michael Jackson, who helps more than a little on production and vocals. Di had to wait a few months for a proper Bee Gees classic song though, without Jacko to bring it down a notch (clearly saving his best efforts for Bad).

Know how we look back fondly on those childhood novelty songs? There’s one at 70, I have no memory of it at all, prob because I was 27 and not 7. Sneaking in at 74, it’s 70’s rock divas Heart, at long last charting with the triff What About Love. Sadly it took another another 3 years to progress further as Heart became AOR late 80’s UK faves a good decade after US success. The Damned are also back. Is It A Dream? It’s not Classix Nouveaux at any rate…

71 ( 42 ) DON QUIXOTE Nik Kershaw
72 ( 73 ) NOW THAT WE’VE FOUND LOVE Third World
73 ( 44 ) LOVE IS THE SEVENTH WAVE Sting
74 ( NEW ) WHAT ABOUT LOVE Heart
75 ( NEW ) IS IT A DREAM The Damned

OLDIES CHART
1 SAVE THE COUNTRY The Fifth Dimension
2 GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver
3 WITHOUT YOU Nilsson

w/e 24th September 1985

It’s Red Box for a second week on top as Stevie Wonder shoots up to get his last top 3 with new material, after a 17 year-run. Midge Ure is up to 4, beating his 1982 No Regrets cover, Madonna makes it 5 top 10’s in 1985 with Angel, and The Cure get a 5th top 10 up 32 places. Greg Phillinganes and David Cassidy stride into the 20, and the highest new entry is a classic at 37 as A-Ha debut with Take On Me. That spearheads a mass invasion of new tracks, many of them inspired by the new pop TV show Jonathan King’s No Limits – the theme tune itself debuts at 75, as new young presenters win an X-Factor type race to host the show.

In at 38, The Style Council are back with one of their best tracks, The Lodgers, and Dead Or Alive make it 4 hits in a row at 40, My Heart Goes Bang. At 42, Colonel Abrams funky dance Trapped, 44 is a recharting 1982 hit from America, and Kim Carnes is back 5 years since her debut with More Love, in at 50 and she’s crazy in the night. Aren’t we all.

Journey are massive in the 21st Century thanks to Don’t Stop Believin’, but back in 1985 they meant very little in the UK, though they had a few charting hits for me starting with Anyway You Want It in 1980. Steve Perrie steps out here for a solo hit, at 57, Cameo bung in some Single Life funk to follow up the fab She’s Strange, future monster hit in the UK (but not her home USA) Jennifer Rush enters with The Power Of Love, the 3rd song within 12 months to use the title.

The Smiths near the end of their chart journey as The Boy With The Thorn In His Side sneaks in at 64, and Twiggy returns 9 years on from her chart debut, and 20 years since she burst onto the iconic British fashion scene, Jennifer Holliday is back 3 years on from her show-stopping, and unsurpassable, version of And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going from Dream Girls – being sung these days by Amber Riley, former Glee star, Glee of course covering Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ to huge success, and causing the original to finally chart big in the UK.

Elaine Page returns, 4 years since Memories started her showtune singles chart career, and fresh off her UK chart-topper with Babs Dickson. That leaves Lou Reed making a chart comeback after quite a gap of time, some 12 years since Walk On The Wild Side, and Hall & Oates also back with a cover – in this case a Temptations medley. Phew! Loads of drop outs!

61 ( NEW ) SINGLE LIFE Cameo
62 ( NEW ) THE POWER OF LOVE Jennifer Rush
63 ( 58 ) SO IN LOVE OMD
64 ( NEW ) THE BOY WITH THE THORN IN HIS SIDE The Smiths
65 ( 43 ) BODY AND SOUL Mai Tai
66 ( NEW ) FEEL EMOTION Twiggy
67 ( NEW ) YOU DID CUT ME China Crisis
68 ( 54 ) YOU’RE MY HEART YOU’RE MY SOUL Modern Talking
69 ( NEW ) HARD TIME FOR LOVERS Jennifer Holliday
70 ( NEW ) LOVE TAKE OVER Five Star

71 ( 45 ) I GOT YOU BABE UB40 and Chrissie Hynde
72 ( NEW ) HEAVEN HELP MY HEART Elaine Page
73 ( NEW ) SEPTEMBER SONG Lou Reed
74 ( NEW ) THE WAY YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO/MY GIRL Daryl Hall & John Oates
75 ( NEW ) NO LIMITS Jonathan King

It’s a 3rd week on top for Kendrick and SZA, still sounding great, as are the whole top 10, all of them lower than they deserve (bar one). Lissie gets her highest-ever peak of 2, and JT goes top 3 for a full 20 years of ’em. In at 5 it’s the original B side to the new entry at 35 for the Pet Shop Boys – Paninaro was equally loved by me in 1986 as A side and chart-topper Suburbia, but I didnt allow B sides and album tracks in those to avoid swamping my charts with fave acts like Abba and Pet Shop Boys. These days, since Sheeran & the stupid streaming takeovers of the UK & US charts, I’ve said sod it, I’m doing the same – so as Please (one of 3 deluxe 80’s album versions to chart last week) is back I’m recharting tracks I would have charted (but didn’t). That means the banging 12″ mix of Paninaro (Italian fashion movement) enters at 5, having peaked in the top 5 in the mid 90’s in a belated inferior remake, and Suburbia is back again also in an 8 minute plus extended version. In The Night also enters (better known as The Clothes Show TV theme tune back in the day), while Two Divided By Zero climbs.

They aren’t the only act taking over the charts though – Paloma Faith’s chart-topper drops out, but two new ones enter giving her 4 tracks: Til I’m Done revives in my CD playlists, love the manic ending and her vocal, back up to 11 leapfrogging the top 20 combo with Sigala. Another duet, with Sia, and clearly a Sia OTT ballad for a Game or something, enters at 45 (not available to buy) as an advert track (I think) also enters at 64: Paloma’s version of the fab Mama Cass 1969 hit of the Barry Mann & Cynthia Weill song. Kylie meanwhile keeps the dance yee-haws a-coming at jumps straight in at 8 for 2 top 10’s in a row.

Big climbs for Years & Years, and Owl City, the latter getting a second top 30 hit, and Lykke Li covers the 1973 Jim Croce classic Time In A Bottle which topped my chart thanks to an X-Men movie sequence a couple or 3 years back. Kim Wilde’s new album is out, and she grabs another chart entry out of it, Sade return for the first time in 7 years, and 34 years on from Your Love Is King jazzing up the charts, and the UK Eurovision song sneaks in as the Finland entry drops a bit at the top end of my chart. Expect that ratio to be repeated on the day…

It’s a second week on top for Kendrick Lamarr and SZA, a great movie song for the closing credits, leading a static top 4, all still sounding fab. The Partridge Family’s 1970 album track and TV show performance finally makes my top 10, err, 47 years late – the episode featured around a Black urban area show for charity, so fits in nicely with a blockbuster black superhero movie. In 1971 (when I first saw the TV show) I was into DC comics with social conscience themes, like Teen Titans and many others. It was a time of optimism that things were changing.

Killer makes the top 10 for the 3rd time for Seal, all versions different, and The Fratellis make it a 4th top 10, while highest new entry is from a newish US singer called Beca who popped up on my twitter with her new mid-80’s sounding track, We exchanged some messages, I bought it, and here it is in at 18, ironically ahead of the lead track from Pet Shop Boys first album – it’s sort of late 80’s Pet Shop Boys-sounding in some respects with the synth chords. The PSB’s have 3 reissues with bonus tracks, giving me an opportunity to own them on CD as well as vinyl, charting in the UK top 75, and a chance to chart all those tracks that I excluded because I didnt let album tracks into my charts once I started buying Abba albums – or else the chart would have been Ed-Sheeran-ed to death.

Big climbs for LPX and Meghan Trainor, Years & Years return, Don McLean’s classic 1972 UK chart-topper is back for the first time in 46 years as it re-enters the UK top 75 sales chart this week, giving me a perfect reason to let it have a decent chart run – I preferred American Pie at the time, and it was much better than I rated it at the time. Vincent isn’t about me (my middle name), but is about Van Gogh. His great great nephew lives locally running a transport service: Vincent Van Hire. Maybe.

Others: Leona Lewis is back, Owl City is back, both after breaks, Rainbow Kitten Surprise is not as cuddly as it sounds at all, alt-rock pretty much, but good, and in at the bottom end it’s Sting back with an assist from Shaggy. Some have commented on the Youtube video that they are surprised at the pairing, never saw that one coming, and the like. Being old, I’m more surprised it took this long for them to pair up: Sting had non-stop reggae-rock monsters for 3 years in The Police, almost 40 years ago, and by 1993 when Shaggy was huge, so was reggae huge again, including Sting having more reggae hits with reggae acts on loan. The new one’s more gentle and less gutsy or poppy than the older ones, but nice to have them both back.

It’s a first chart-topper for Kendrick Lamar and SZA as they leapfrog Kendrick’s other Black Panther soundtrack hit with The Weeknd who has to be content with yet another number 2 peak. Lissie goes up to 3 with her 6th chart entry, beating the 6 peak of When I’m Alone in 2010, and Hailee Steinfeld gets a first top 10, and a 2nd top 20 in one fell swoop. Florida Georgia Line similarly get a first top 10 and almost get a second one in the same week.

Janelle Monae gets her 3rd top 10 in 6 years since she hit 2 with fun. but her first solo entry with the very Prince-inspired and highest-climbing Make Me Feel. Funktastic. The Fratellis get their 5th top 20 entry, the first for 11 years, while highest new entry has gone all Pete Tong – as he turns into a Killer with his 2nd top 40 classic dance cover, featuring Seal, who thus gets a 3rd version of the 1990 Adamski chart-topper into my charts. He got no credit for what is essentially his own song, sung by himself (how times have changed, these days you get a label credit for farting in the background accidentally). He did record his own hit version a few years later but it wasn’t as good, though he did get another 2 chart-toppers himself alone in the 90’s. Just to rub it in, his 1990 classic debut hit, Crazy, has been covered in a very different style by Think Up Anger, and renamed Mutiny. No idea why Crazy isn’t the title.

New act Ria Mae is the highest new song, at 27, as Sigala and Paloma Faith both add to their list of top 40 tracks as Lullaby rockets into the 30. Alan Walker gets a 3rd top 40, Noah Cyrus a second, Imagine Dragons 4 out of 4 from the new album, and Rosemary Martins covers Donna Summer reggae-style spearheading a reggae-presence of 3 as UB40 also cover Stevie Wonder to get a 2nd in the chart. Or 2 UB20’s (almost, 3 members at any rate) which adds up to UB40 pretty much, given the actual vocalist Ali is singing.

Meghan Trainor is back, ditto Marshmello, Anne-Marie, and Gary Numan – Gazza has been absent since 2002, so he now extends his chart career to 39 years since Are ‘Friends’ Electric topped my chart in the summer of ’79. My Name Is Ruin is his best effort in a decade and a half.

It’s Saara Aalto on top for a 3rd week, chasing by 2 Black Panther tracks (which I saw this week), giving Kendrick Lamar 2 of the top 3. No relation to Austrian inventor and movie actress Hedy Lamarr, who basically invented bluetooth in the 30’s (sort of) as part of a radio-wave missile-guidance system for allied troops and then became a gorgeous movie star in Hollywood. I can however listen to Kendrick Lamar now via bluetooth, so sort of linked. No relation in either case to fictional Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles. Hedy had a film-worthy life, though.

Florida Georgia Line and Hailee Steinfeld both have 2 top 20, and top 40, respectively, while CAIN (who?!) have the highest new entry with an unavailable Witchhouse track. Janelle Monae is back 3 years from her last chart entry – with Duran Duran – and 6 years since her monster fun. track. I now have a complete 1997-2017 database so can quote accurate stats from my charts during that period. Just 1968-1996 to add now…

5 Seconds of Summer get a second chart entry 4 years since the first, Imagine Dragons make it 4 off the latest album, Paloma Faith links with Sigala to give her 3 on the chart, and 23 in total. Sigala have had 4, and Franz Ferdinand get their 11th chart entry 9 years on from the last one (excluding their FFS project with Sparks).

It’s 2 weeks on top for the Eurovision hopeful, as Al Green gets a first top 5 since Let’s Stay Together in 1972 (and it’s reissue in 2010 when it topped my chart). He last made my top 10 with new material in 2008, and would have been charting for 50 years had I compiled charts in early 1968. The Eels grab a 5th top 10 some 21 years after the first one, while Lissie gets a top 20 8 years on from her first rocketing up 35 places.

Hailee Steinfeld gets greedy, up 40 spots into the 20, while also entering at 45 with BloodPop assisting, t’other assistants Florida Georgia Line leapfrog themselves. Kendrick Lamar joins himself in the 30, SZA gets a second top 40. Highest new entry is MIKA, last in my top 10 in 2013, and first in with Grace Kelly in 2007, in between topping with flop Rain in 2009. The Fratellis also enter, having been absent for almost a decade, but having 3 top 10’s in 2006/7. Kishi Bashi grabs a 7th chart hit, Alan Walker a 3rd, Noah Cyrus a second, and sneaking in with an unreleased track (at least until friday) is Mel & Kim. Poor Mel died at a very young age at the height of their success, and are owed another bit of chart success, as it’s not bad at all from what I’ve heard so far, 30 years on.

Straight in at 1 it’s a record from Saara Alto, Finnish runner-up in X-Factor UK, and former The Voice Finland candidate. That makes her twice a song contest fave, but I have to say I don’t watch either shows anywhere these days. That makes it pretty extraordinary that a record I’d never heard until yesterday enters on top. Essentially, she’s engaging, and it sounds like a Eurovision Song Contest winning track – if only the BBC could come up with one like it. I rarely have singing competition singers top my chart (excluding Eurovision), and usually it’s well into their career when they do: Adam Lambert did it in 2017, Olly Murs in 2013, Agnes in 2009, Girls Aloud did it twice in 2007, and that’s about it for the 21st Century, none of them doing so with the first single after appearing. There is precedence though – Mary Hopkin won multiple weeks in a 60’s show called Opportunity Knocks, Paul McCartney signed her up to Apple Records, and she had 3 chart-toppers in 1968, 1969 and 1970 – only missing out on making it 3 in a row thanks to being the UK singer for Eurovision in 1970 with a cheesy entry, which slipped in before her final one.

Elsewhere, Florida Georgia Line get a double debut, both as featuring act, The Weeknd rockets to 3 with his Black Panther single, the film not even out yet, and giving him 5 years of top 3’s since Twenty Eight hit 2, and including a chart-topper with Ariana Grande. Disclosure eclipse their Sam Smith 2012 Latch single (peaked at 10) in one fell swoop by sampling the brilliant Al Green, one of the greatest soul singers of all-time. Lissie’s back after a slight gap, UB40 (or at least 3/8ths of them) string out a chart run to a whopping 38 years, and a six-year-old Mexican political track sneaks in at the bottom.

It’s 2 weeks on top for the Irma Thomas 1964 soul gem fresh from Black Mirror. That keeps Kylie in her place as Revivalists have a god climb to 3 leapfrogging Justin Timberlake’s under-rated new track and Paloma’s 3rd single from the album. Kim Wilde rockets with Ricky to 22 from 74 – Ricky’s biggest chart credit since Mrs Malinski made my top 30 in 1974. No you don’t have to pretend you know it and it won’t be on Spotify. His voice has dropped quite a bit since then! Mine too.

The Eels return to my top 40 for the first time in 13 years, quite a gap, while Camilla Cabello outdoes Havana here and becomes her 2nd top 40. The Weeknd has an instant top 40 highest new entry, aided by Kendrick Lamar, who also enters lower with another track, both songs from the forthcoming 50 Shades film. Fleetwood Mac’s classic Rhiannon is well over 40 years old, and was last in my charts exactly 40 years ago – this is the album version, though, so the new Fleetwood Mac deluxe has given me an excuse to chart this uncharted version. Fab. Finally, Toto are back after a 30-year gap (bar reissues) with a souped-up version of an old unreleased very Rosanna period Toto, sadly I would prefer Hold The Line-period Toto, though Africa was fab.

It’s in at 1 for a record I didn’t know a week ago – Irma Thomas’ brilliant 1964 soul ballad fresh from use in an episode of Black Mirror (via Buzzjack Song Contest). Hauntingly fab. That stops Kylie grabbing another chart-topper, but she adds to her long list of 2’s anyway. Paloma Faith gets a 3rd top 10 a in a row in a frantic chart, up 54 places. It’s been a long time since so many tracks were climbing at a pace like this, and bar the number one they are all new or recent-ish. That means a clear-out of 2017 tracks.

In at 7, highest new song is the first good track off Justin T’s forthcoming album, while The Revivalists shoot up to 8, and Liam Payne gets more solo top 10’s than One Direction managed, joined by Rita Ora getting a rare one. At 12, SSion, is a video mix of a ballad, pop song and pyscho Jesus & Mary Chain/Jesus Jones Info freako-ish popchartfreakout. Epic. Fall Out Boy get a 2nd top 20 in a row, Rudimental are back with Macklemore and Jess Glynne in tow, Dua Lipa doesn’t give a … about being late into my chart, ditto Tom walker, Eminem and Camilla cabello. Oldies Eels are back for over 20 years of hits including a chart-topper with Last Stop: This Time. Turin Brakes return, but it’s nothing next to Kim Wilde’s 37 year run aided by bruv (as ever) who gets a credit for the first time as he’s actually singing. Ricky first charted in 1972 with his flop (but well-played) pre-teen track I Am An Astronaut, and hit my top 10 with Teen Wave in 1974, a template for Kim’s 80’s smashes (sort of). So, Rick makes it 46 years (gasp!) and he’s younger than me…!

It’s back into the top 10 for the 3rd time and all the way to the top for Craig David and Bastille, one of those tracks that doesn’t pall with repeat hearings. It’s the 3rd chart-topper for Craig (Walking Away and Hot Stuff, the former based on U2’s One, the latter Bowie’s Let’s Dance) and Bastille’s first. Hot on their heels though, Kylie’s back with a contemporary-sounding dance-country crossover and she’s Dancing to enter at 3, giving her a sweet 30 years of top 10 hits since I Should Be So Lucky hit 6.

Portugal. The Man are also back into the top 7 months on with Feel It Still, and also with new track Live In The Moment, sandwiching P!nk at 8 – her second top 10 off the new album and a sweet 18 years since There You Go hit 9. New at 13 it’s The Straw Hats – well, actually it’s Troyboi, but the Norwegian dance troupe have done a fab video for the short-but-sweet dance track in a Japanese-stylee. Appropriating culture or taking it to a wider audience? Actually most modern pop music is appropriated culture, and that includes Japanese acts, so whatever it looks terrific.

As a load of oldies depart the chart, some also pop in, topped by the late Dolores O’Riordan’s Cranberries, and their best record, Linger. Dolores died suddenly, and far too young, last week. The Revivalists is a couple or 3 years old, but one I missed, and Fall Out Boy are new in at 35 with the new album track, and are besides themselves. Amongst the deluge of new tracks, The Chainsmokers return, as does Noel Gallagher, that’ll be 24 years-worth of entries then.

Paloma Faith sneaks in with a dance track, for a hat-trick, Embrace enter 21 years since All You Good Good People hit 10 (and 14 years since they topped my chart with Gravity), Imagine Dragons keep the new entries coming 6 years since topping with Radioactive (well, nearer 5, but hey, it was 2012), as The Manics make it at least 25 years of newies, Bruno makes it 8 years (including 2 chart-toppers in Grenade and Marry You), Simple Minds return with only the one chart-topper in 1995 (She’s A River) but 36 years of hits. Finally, Mavis Staples pops in solo, after assisting Gorillaz last year, having been helped by Prince in 1991 with Melody Cool and on his tours wot-I-saw, and 46 years since I’ll Take You There hit my number 3 for The Staple Singers, Mavis’ sisters and dad.

It’s Oh Wonder on top in an otherwise quiet chart week, their second chart entry, and a fab record, it borrows somewhat from Elton John’s fantastic Benny & The Jets, which topped my charts 44 years ago – at least the backbone of the record anyway. Midge Ure is also back in the top 10 with the same track 23 years on, a good version of Breathe. Sister Sledge make it a 5th top 10, 33 years on since the last one (albeit a 38-year-old record). Naughty Boy adds to his list of top 10’s (his 5th, including a number one – La La La), P!nk gets a 3rd top 20 in a row off the album, and Portugal. The Man get 2 top 20 entries – Feel It Still is back over 6 months later, and new track Live In The Moment is just below it.

Big climb for Jessie Ware, Bleachers finally got top 40, and Blondie are back again a very sweet 40 years from their debut with Denis (almost) and with Joan Jett in tow some 36 years since I Love Rock N Roll. She hasn’t troubled my charts since ILRNR was reissued in 1994, and not with new material since the 80’s! Lily Allen returns, not before time, 12 years since her debut and still yet to top my chart. Lana Del Ray and Anna Of The North return, and Wolf Alice get a debut at last.

It’s a second week for the lush Aretha Franklin ballad 44 years on, just holding off a massive 70-place leap for Oh Wonder, now getting well-deserved Radio 2 support. Radio 2 seems to have gone full on-board with the sort of new tracks that Radio 1 would have played a few years ago, which is good news. It’s a mass xmas song drop-out week, as 3 songs with Home in the title are in my top 10, ironically, as I’m still trapped at home caring for my mum with dad back in hospital, and me unable to get to work.

Midge Ure’s 1995 UK flop (but big with me) Breathe is back, in the orchestral vogue, which suits it better than some of the bigger hits on the album, while Naughty Boy is back with a Jonas brother in tow at 23, leaping over another Jonas brother at 24. Both doing better than any actual Jonas Brothers records ever did in my charts. Portugal. The Man’s 2017 oldie is back in the 40, as their new one enters at 48.

P!nk has a 3rd top 40 off the latest album, Lindsey & Christine get a 3rd of 5 album tracks to hit the 40, Pet Shop Boys version of their Girls Aloud/Xenomania hit belatedly pops in, Shed Seven return for over 20 years of entries, and Jessie ware has a welcome return.